In a podcast, Roger Godbout, a researcher and professor at the Université de Montréal, takes an in-depth look at sleep, dreams, and insomnia. He explains why we sleep, how dreams are formed, and offers concrete ways to optimize sleep quality. He highlights the consequences of sleep deprivation on mental health and encourages health professionals to systematically assess the sleep habits of young people.
In general, humans need to feel comfortable and secure to freely indulge in sleep. That’s why you need your sleeping environment, basically your room or your bed, to fit you so you can sleep well. We are all different and so is what makes us feel good and safe.
However, we know that what invites sleep in general is an environment that:
It’s not a cave, but it’s your space, your personal space where you feel safe enough to abandon yourself in the arms of Morpheus (a Greek god, no less).
The devil is in the details, everything can be thought of or rethought in your room (or simply your bed). Do you like your mattress, pillow and bedding? Do the colors of your walls and your decorations make you want to dance on your bed or lie in it peacefully? What are your light sources? Alarm clock? Screen? A lamp? Disco ball? In general, a cool room temperature makes for a good night’s sleep, but some people are big, heavy comforters even in the summer, while others sleep like a stranded whale at the beach even if it’s 15 degrees.
Your room, your space, your style.
In experiments on beauty, scientists showed their participants photos of people and asked them to say who looked fitter, more attractive, healthier, etc. Some photos were of people who said they were tired and sleep-deprived and others of people who were rested (with or without dark circles, for example). Some photos were of people who said they were tired and sleep-deprived and others of people who were rested (with or without dark circles, for example). The result: the photos of people who had enough sleep and said they were in good shape were the ones that were judged more attractive than the others. The moral of this story? Sleep is the beauty trick of the century! Well, it doesn’t make a great video “tutorial”, we agree, but at least your natural “glow” doesn’t pollute your face or the planet.
PS: No animal was mistreated for this question.
Nightmares are dreams that are as frightening as seeing someone lose their teeth while eating ice cream. Joking aside, the emotions they generate are sometimes so intense that they can make it hard for you to go back to sleep right away, and night after night. After “facing monstrous creatures”, the most common dreams among young people are “being physically assaulted”, followed by “falling” and “being late”. We know this thanks to researchers like Mathieu Pilon (the one behind TNDO) who has read and analyzed tons of dreams and nightmares in his sleep lab.
Lack of sleep affects academic performance because sleep is important for your attention and memory.
First of all, just like a fellow student who keeps clicking his pen, lack of sleep disrupts your ability to concentrate in class. For example, how can you remember that the Quebec Act was passed in 1774 if your attention was not there?
Lack of sleep also affects what you have learned during the day because it is thanks to sleep that everything is recorded on your internal hard drive. Basically, no matter how much you study, if you don’t sleep, it won’t stick.
If you want to shine in school like a star in the night sky, sleep is your best ally.
Everyone is different, but it seems that teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night. Yes, not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. While Harry functions well on less sleep, his friend Ron needs more to feel good. And what about Hermione and her “time-turner”!
It’s nature’s way! Diversity of people and their sleep needs. The key is to aim for restful sleep and to feel good. Do you know how many hours of sleep you need to recharge your batteries?
That said, why do cats sleep so much? It’s a relic of the days when these felines had to hunt for their meals. With so much sleep in their pockets, cats had the energy they needed in case they had to run long distances to catch prey.
